Literary Analysis Term Paper

Education

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
: Mark Twain

Pettis, Newhaven, Taylor, Horack, Zygadlo, Stevens

RP, MN, RT, MH, DZ, SS 1

Pettis, Newhaven, Taylor, Horack, Zygadlo, Stevens
Huck Finn Theme Paper
American Literature
12 Mar. 2015 Mark Twain's
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn carries out many themes throughout the book. One of the main themes is education. He uses multiple characters to show this theme.
Huck uses life experiences and things he learns in school to solve many of the issues he comes across. Twain also shows lack of education through the dialogue of Jim, the slave, and his inability to read and write. In life now education in more official and strict. The teachers have to follow strict teaching guides called Common Core. In the beginning of the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there are many examples of education being used, not only school smarts but common sense as well. In this part of the book Huck is attending school and Widow Douglas is educating him on The Bible and religion as well. Huck father however, doesn’t like that he can read and write. He thinks he is trying to be better than his father. “Your mother couldn't read and she couldn’t write, nuther, before she died. None of the family couldn't before they died” (Twain 20). Huck learned from the widow anyways; “After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the
Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him” (4). Though he is learning about religion, he is learning all the same and this knowledge can help him make decisions all throughout his life. This kind of education can make the foundation on how he lives, like rules which are similar to what a sturdy school/book education give you as Huck tells his peer
“Because it ain’t in the books so­ that’s why. Now, Ben Rogers, do you want to do things regular, or don’t you?” (11). Huck uses his books as a sort of “rule­book” as what to and what

RP, MN, RT, MH, DZ, SS 2

not to do, but has to learn what is truly right and wrong from his life experience along with what he is exposed to in his everyday life. A great example of this was Huck realising that even though Jim is uneducated and owned, he is the same as everyone else. Huck was challenging the idea of what society thinks is “right”, and making his own decision based on what he saw. Jim doesn’t use correct grammar "Yo' ole father doan' know yit what he's a­gwyne to do" (Twain 19). he was probably not allowed to learn because he was black and a slave. Another example of education and common sense learned through experience was when Huck said “I knowed mighty well that a drowned man don’t float on his back, but on his face. So I knowed then that this warn’t pap, but a women dressed up in a mans clothes!!” (13). He used prior knowledge to help him figure this out and answer his own internal questions.
In the middle of the book, Mark Twain uses education in multiple forms while Huck continues his journeys with the King and Duke. The three main types are book learning, practical knowledge, and life experiences. Although, as mentioned, most of the book learning in portrayed in the beginning of the book, Huck used that knowledge in the middle. He used teachings from school to help tell someone something without saying it out loud by writing. He said, “I’ll write a letter and tell Mary Jane where it’s hid” (169). He used his writing skills he learned from school to tell Mary where the money was hidden so the King and Duke couldn’t have it. Mark Twain also showed learning by life experiences when Huck was soaked and someone said, “ get the wet clothes off from him and dress him in some of yours that’s dry” (94). The character that told them to get the wet clothes off of Huck knew he could get sick if they left them on. Mark Twain